Curved graphite precursors enable cubic-hexagonal diamond heterostructures with unprecedented toughness-hardness synergy.

ABSTRACT: The intrinsic trade-off between hardness and toughness presents a long-standing challenge for diamond-based materials, limiting their use in extreme environments. Here, we report a bioinspired strategy to overcome this limitation by engineering graphite precursors with mimosa-like microscale curvature. Under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions (15 gigapascals and 2300 kelvin), these precursors concentrate local stress, promoting nucleation of hexagonal diamond within a cubic diamond matrix and forming cubic-hexagonal heterostructures. The resulting composites exhibit exceptional hardness (169 gigapascals) and toughness (15.7 megapascals multiplied by square root of meter), representing 36 and 104% improvements over single-phase nanopolycrystalline diamond, respectively. This dual

SUBMITTER: Ma X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12577702 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature